Checking Into "The Shack"

I recently finished reading “The Shack”...

Here’s my short review of it the I posted on Goodreads.com:

“Truthfully still thinking about this book.

It was good.

Moving and thought provoking.

Kind of weird, but not really in a bad way.

But good.

I just don’t really know what to think of it.

Totally worth reading, but don’t know if I would straight up recommend it to anyone, yet I know many who I would recommend it to.

So… I’m still thinking about this book.”

P.S. I appreciate that you all posted Mark Driscoll’s thoughts on the book. I don’t say this because I like Driscoll (can’t stand him), but I appreciate that the folks at Emergent Village aren’t afraid to let others know about the diverse opinions out there.

I liked the Shack. I thought it was thought provoking. I found that it drove me many times throughout to be in thoughtful prayer and dialogue with God…It even caused me to wrestle a little.

I would read it again and I recommend it to others. I think it presents God in a way that challenges our preconceived ideas. God is so much bigger then we are… I think it’s healthy to think outside my box… When I do, I find I grow. Any book that causes me to draw nearer to God in my own relationship I give thumbs up regardless if in the end I agree or disagree with all of the theology of the author….

We’ve got plenty of good suggestions for actors… drop by and get your favorite in.

I haven’t read the Shack, but found myself a little amused by Mark Driscoll’s discomfort with having a character in a story representing God the father: describing it as a graven image. I really can’t understand the difference between what these guys are doing and Jesus describing God as a father or a vineyard owner or a king. But maybe that’s just me

Beware the man who follows up the question, “have you read ___?” with the imperative, “don’t.” I haven’t read The Shack, but thanks to Mark Driscoll, I plan to now. Rejecting ideas out of turn is bad enough, rejecting ideas because somebody behind a pulpit told you to reject them is just plain bad practice for living.

Regarding Driscoll’s comments, I find it interesting that he has no issue with the symbol of the dove he points out but has issues with a symbolic piece of literature (which in all fairness I have not read). The bible itself anthropomorphizes God with terms like breath, right hand, and etc.

Michael W. Smith sang and spoke at my school (Wheaton College) yesterday and recommended this book very highly. Just thought it was interesting that he recommended it on the same day that this post was written. I hadn’t heard of it before, and I’m kinda interested now.

Driscoll does a great job demonstrating that propositional theology, only points, and I will say poorly points, to spiritual realities. When Mark can adequately use words to explain john 17:22 “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me”, then he will be worth listening to. (this really would be a disclaimer on using finite words to describe infinite realities) Until then he ought to commend himself to silence and solitude.

There is also a collaborative, four person book review of the Shack here: http://theshackreview.wordpress.com/

Geoff: “I really can’t understand the difference between what these guys are doing and Jesus describing God as a father or a vineyard owner or a king.”

I couldn’t agree more. I haven’t read the book, although after Mark’s comments, I think I should.

How many phrases in the Bible go like this: heaven is like… the Father is like… forgiveness is like…? What about the church being described like a bride? What about the whore in the Book of Revelation? (John’s not really talking about a whore, right?) It goes on and on, yet it seems these big-pastor types don’t see how often the use certain literary tools illuminate concepts to us. THE SHACK is a work of fiction, which appears to use some of these tools. And even more so, I think the author is trying to make a point about God’s love and power, suffering in the world, and how we deal with it. I’m not so sure he was trying to argue that God the Father is a black woman or that heaven is a shack. It almost seems like Mark, a very smart guy, is tripping over his own seriousness.

(I wonder Mark feels about C.S. Lewis drawing comparisons in his fictional tales of NARNIA? Or what about THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS? Surely there’s nothing in the Bible that says one demon writes letters to teach and encourage another, therefore you shouldn’t read it; don’t do it, C.S. Lewis is a heretic!)

I was set not to like the book, The Shack but after reading it, I thought it was really good and thought provoking. All the time I reaad it, I kept thinking it needs a study to go along with it. I finally decided God was urging me to write a study which I did. If anyone would like it, email me at prayerdigm.bookstudy@yahoo.com. I would be glad to send you the study. You are welcome to use it and copy it for others.
Trish Pickard

Bryan,
Among other things, you said:”therefore you shouldn’t read it; don’t do it, C.S. Lewis is a heretic!” Wow! you got something right. He was a heretic, and he was an inspiration to the heretic who wrote “The Shack”.